Freightliner 86s

[class 9]

How long do you think the 86s will last, and do you think they could be replaces by something like a class 88?

 

[ash39]

As long as they can find spares to keep them going!

I wouldn't expect Freightliner to order Class 88's. I can see them taking on the 15 Anglia 90's when they come off lease in a couple of years though. Much cheaper and they already have maintenance and driver traction knowledge.

 

[D365]

Agreed, I believe that 90001-15 are being looked at.

The 86s are still double-heading aren't they.

 

[Jamesrob637]

Most are still in traffic aren't they?

 

[TimboM]

86901 has been acquired from Network Rail - I believe as a spares donor - which suggests there's plans to keep at least some of the 86s going a bit longer.

 

[Kettledrum]

86901 has been acquired from Network Rail - I believe as a spares donor - which suggests there's plans to keep at least some of the 86s going a bit longer.

Amazing that some class 86's are still going at 50 years old. Clearly a great design, with some really good modifications over the years. Had spares availability been better in recent years, I suspect more would have survived. Even if there wasn't enough work for them in this country, they would have been in use abroad in Hungary or Bulgaria perhaps.

 

[E_Reeves]

Even if there wasn't enough work for them in this country, they would have been in use abroad in Hungary or Bulgaria perhaps.

They are being used abroad

 

[TimboM]

Amazing that some class 86's are still going at 50 years old. Clearly a great design, with some really good modifications over the years. Had spares availability been better in recent years, I suspect more would have survived. Even if there wasn't enough work for them in this country, they would have been in use abroad in Hungary or Bulgaria perhaps.

52 year-old 86101 and 51 year-old 86401 are still running Class 1 passenger services on the mainline now and again (in the shape of the Caley Sleeper). Pretty remarkable really!

 

[Kettledrum]

They are being used abroad

Sorry - I meant the ones that have been scrapped might have been exported too, if there was better parts availability to have repaired them.

 

[87015]

Sorry - I meant the ones that have been scrapped might have been exported too, if there was better parts availability to have repaired them.

Parts are presumably little issue. Bulgarian's are banging lots of new / re-built to new bits together for the sevens (eg transformers, so big things!) and no doubt the 86s will have the same if required.

 

[randyrippley]

52 year-old 86101 and 51 year-old 86401 are still running Class 1 passenger services on the mainline now and again (in the shape of the Caley Sleeper). Pretty remarkable really!

how did 86101 manage to survive? The 86/1 fleet were the first to go off-lease with Virgin and were headed for breaking to provide spares for the 87 fleet

 

[TimboM]

how did 86101 manage to survive? The 86/1 fleet were the first to go off-lease with Virgin and were headed for breaking to provide spares for the 87 fleet

This from the AC Loco Group's 86101 page may give some indications why it was saved:

86101 was one of three test-bed locomotives converted in the early 1970s from standard Class 86s to trial traction equipment for the upcoming Class 87s. Fitted with a Class 87-type transformer and bogies, the 86/1s saw front-line use on West Coast Main Line services until the late 1990s.

Purchased in 2005, restoration began in 2006, and the loco has subsequently been returned to mainline condition. 86101 became the first preserved AC electric locomotive to operate on the main line on 15th March 2007, and has since operated on railtours and in regular passenger service.

 

[captainbigun]

how did 86101 manage to survive? The 86/1 fleet were the first to go off-lease with Virgin and were headed for breaking to provide spares for the 87 fleet

The 86/1s went to Eversholt the 87s to Porterbrook. 86103 was stripped at Springburn before privatisation. Bogies into the 87 float. 86101 and 102 weren’t stripped. I’m pretty sure Virgin never used them, they were oddities as they ended up with the wrong ROSCO really. FL used them for a while until they were due big exams. Both were available for sale, 101 was saved as it was in better condition. In hindsight it would have made sense to purchase both, school boy error.

They never had 87 transformers, they were all about prototyping the BP9s, those original six frames are all still about.

 

[randyrippley]

........ I’m pretty sure Virgin never used them.............

They did - I can remember a report in Modern Railways saying Virgin had terminated the lease, and I can remember a conversation a few weeks later with a senior manager at Virgin over declining food quality issues, which drifted on to the subject of poor reliability due to lack of motive power shortages - which he admitted had been exacerbated by their decision to withdraw the 86/1 fleet

 

[captainbigun]

It must have been fleeting.

 

[sprinterguy]

It must have been fleeting.

Written sources state until late June 1997 (and there's photographic evidence of 86101 working West Coast services earlier that month), so three months after the start of the Virgin franchise.